I know that I am not the only one that thinks the county of San Bernardino sunk to a new low today. The decision to pay off former Second District Chief of Staff Matt Brown is a slap in the face to all county employees who must face a real hostile work environment each and every day because they do not have the money for an attorney and the county refuses to conduct a legitimate investigation. County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux and our Board of Supervisors should be ashamed of themselves.
Of course, this payoff begs the question of Why? Well, the answer is easy. A mistake by the District Attorney’s office has alerted corruption defendants to the fact that Brown was involved in attempting to get his boss, Second District Supervisor Paul Biane, on tape in an undercover operation. It would be highly detrimental to Supervisor Paul Biane’s re-election chances to have his former Chief of Staff tell what he knows before November 2.
Some would say the effort by Brown to implicate his boss is a noble one. Normally, that is true, but not in the world of politics. Had Brown first resigned, he would have our sympathy. Instead he is nothing more than a jailhouse narc in a fancy suit. He is slime.
And then to add insult to injury, Brown makes hostile work environment accusations that he created for himself. There are certain things you simply don’t do as an employee of an elected and this is one of them. He should have taken the high road, resigned from his cushy job, and then cooperated with the District Attorney. Instead, he used the situation to blackmail the county into giving him an equivalent position that he is not even qualified to have. And the CAO/BOS went along with it.
I have little doubt that today’s result is due to more stellar legal advice from our resident cracked legal Beagle Ruthie Stringer. We keep being told her departure is near. Why don’t we just pay her to leave? It would be cheaper than dealing with the results of her crap legal advice.
Devereaux and Board, you all should once again be ashamed of yourselves for wasting taxpayer money. But we know you are not.
From the California Penal Code:
136.1. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (c), any person who
does any of the following is guilty of a public offense and shall be
punished by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year
or in the state prison:
(1) Knowingly and maliciously prevents or dissuades any witness or
victim from attending or giving testimony at any trial, proceeding,
or inquiry authorized by law.
So where is the PIU boys on this? Ramos has a witness who is cooperating with the corruption case of the century, some one is violating this section of law and NO ONE has been arresting.
WE did not even hear a name mentioned through rumor control.
OH I forgot, some one under the influence of methamphetamine is more important.
What a joke, and those who supported this are a joke, and so are your friends if you have any.
This is a pure and simple gift of public funds (aka “hush money”) by CAO Devilreaux to keep a lid on the massive corruption in the County administration, and proof positive that the DA’s Public Integrity Unit (PIU) is a complete and utter scam job. C’MON! FEDS, WISH YOU WERE HERE?!
And I don’t doubt that Larry Walker is intertwined in all of this…like you said, he took Matt Brown on and Larry knows he isn’t qualified. Now, if Matt Brown does something about the hostile work environment that De Ana Thompson has created at the Recorders office, then he will move up a notch in my book. Hey Matt, since you are her boss now, Do something good with your cushy job, get rid of the common denominator that is making everyone leave from the Recorders office. You say you want to increase moral…that would be the biggest moral booster ever!!!
Where’s the Grand Jury on this? What about the Justice Department? The more things change, the more they stay the same.
It’s just business as usual at the County of San Bernardino. The largest county in the United States, and the most corrupt.
I wish they would give me $25k. Such a joke.
I know that if it had been me or any other county employee that did what Matt Brown did, our careers with the county would be kaput! But folks like Matt Brown, and Mark Uffer just float through life given one golden opportunity after another to hose the taxpayers. Truly amazing!
I do think that if Matt would do something about Thompson, a lot could be forgiven.
Administrator: But aren’t these folks, shall we say, birds of a feather? They probably do lunch together, and God only knows what else (all on county time, no doubt)!
They end up smelling like a rose because they know too much, that’s why he got paid off. Oh and don’t count on him to help with any hostile work environment — I’ve heard he treats staff pretty bad,